DEAR AMY: I am a 46-year-old, never-married man who has not dated seriously in more than 20 years.

Recently, I have become curious about a phenomenon I have noticed: It seems to me that women in their 20s are exponentially better-looking than they were when I was in my 20s and first moved to the city.

Don't get me wrong -- I fully realize I am too old to try to date them, and I seriously doubt that I have become less repulsive to them as I have grown older. I would just like to know if there has been an actual demographic change, if this is merely the glandular consequence of middle age, or if it is due to global warming?-- Perplexed in Chicago

DEAR PERPLEXED: I agree. Young people do seem to be exponentially better-looking than when you and I were in our 20s.

Perhaps we belong to a distinctly unattractive generation. Maybe we can blame this phenomenon on the style of the 1980s. No one can look good in a mullet.

Or perhaps it has to do with our eyesight -- and theirs -- because have you noticed that as you approach middle age, you seem to be growing ever more invisible?

Talk about macular de-generation.(2005)

DEAR AMY: I got engaged at Christmas, and a few days later we visited my fiance's aunt. My fiance's sister was there. She took me aside and said, "You're not good enough to marry my brother. In fact, the only one he should be married to is me."

She is married and has a son. I am 20, she is 23 and my fiance is 28. His sister broke up the last girl he went with. What should I do?-- Worried

DEAR WORRIED: First you should ask your fiance for a thorough explanation of this sisterly attachment, her comment to you and her history of breaking up his relationships. Even if you find his explanation plausible, I think you should then opt for one of two choices:

(1) Insist on a very long engagement. You need to see how much of an impact his sister has on his -- and your -- life. If this is a once-a-year comment from someone you rarely see, you might find it easy to ignore.

(2) Lace up your fastest sneakers and run for the hills. Get the kind with the waffle soles -- you're going to want good traction.

Either way -- tread carefully. When you marry your guy, you marry into his family. His sister's attitude toward you is unlikely to change unless he insists upon it, and he should insist upon it.(2004)

DEAR AMY: I was under the impression that when you coordinate and make plans for the night, dine at a hip restaurant and have drinks and make out at a hip bar, that constitutes a date. And when you do that serially with one person who coincidentally is not seeing anyone else, it's called "dating."

She thinks we're "hanging out." -- Anonymous

DEAR ANONYMOUS: It's all semantics. Stop picking at this and enjoy yourself.(2005)

DEAR AMY: How long is considered an appropriate length of time to wait for someone when a date/time has been agreed upon to meet at the theater, a restaurant, museum, gallery or the like?-- Bobbie

DEAR BOBBIE: I'm a 20-minute-limit gal, with exceptions made for people who are circling the lot looking for a parking space and for my cousin Jan, who is always late but worth the wait.(2004)

DEAR AMY: What do you do if you are at someone's home for a party and the toilet gets clogged?-- Mary from Las Vegas

DEAR MARY: Yell "fire" and run out into the street?

You could try to fix the situation yourself, but this might lead to one of those "I Love Lucy" disasters that just compounds the problem.

I think a quick private word with the homeowner would be in order. You can always try to blame the dog.(2004)

1- You had me up until you blamed global warming. You're an idiot. But you do have a point. I've noticed this with even younger girls. In my day, 12 year olds didn't have double D breasts! It's something in the water, food, inoculations, or maybe a combination of all of them.

2- So his sister is a creep. Limit contact. Don't let her control your relationship.

L1: It has nothing to do with vision or generational changes and everything to do with perception.

L2: I like Amy's response. My response to the stupid sister is "YOU'RE DISGUSTING."

L3: When you're making out at a hip bar, people cooler than you (such as myself) are mocking you. Grow up.

L4: You get a toilet plunger and fix the situation. If I didn't know the hosts very well, I'd probably do a very dishonorable thing and walk away and let it be someone else's problem.

However, many of my friends have old homes, which means old toilets and old pipes. I'm pretty used to having to deal finicky toilets, having to hold the flush handle down a certain amount of time to get it to flush, etc. I'd feel pretty comfortable going to a friend for some help with her toilet if I had Chipotle that day.

1- You had me up until you blamed global warming. You're an idiot. But you do have a point. I've noticed this with even younger girls. In my day, 12 year olds didn't have double D breasts! It's something in the water, food, inoculations, or maybe a combination of all of them.2- So his sister is a creep. Limit contact. Don't let her control your relationship.

In your day, SOME 12 year olds most certainly had DD breasts. And that hasn't increased today. Have you seen a 12 year old girl lately? They still look just 12.

1- You had me up until you blamed global warming. You're an idiot. But you do have a point. I've noticed this with even younger girls. In my day, 12 year olds didn't have double D breasts! It's something in the water, food, inoculations, or maybe a combination of all of them.

I knew girls in junior high who had double-d breasts ... they tended to try to hide them in any way possible and be ashamed of them though. The current generation of 12-year-olds who have large breasts seem to have lost some of the shame and don't have the mothers who insist on them wearing ugly, baggy clothing.

1: I think that the older I get the more I find beauty in most women. There is an exception, one of my neighbors is the butt-ugliest poor thing I'ever seen: hair like sauerkraut, eyes like walnuts....poor thing.

<quoted text>I knew girls in junior high who had double-d breasts ... they tended to try to hide them in any way possible and be ashamed of them though. The current generation of 12-year-olds who have large breasts seem to have lost some of the shame and don't have the mothers who insist on them wearing ugly, baggy clothing.

Yeah, I was one of those girls...36 years ago. I was actually pretty skinny, but I wore such baggy clothes and slouched so much that I looked much heavier.

<quoted text>Yeah, I was one of those girls...36 years ago. I was actually pretty skinny, but I wore such baggy clothes and slouched so much that I looked much heavier.

I really noticed it in junior high because I switched from a quite conservative school (where there were mothers who were blame-shaming their own daughters for simply developing) to a public school which was much less conservative.

It wasn't that the girls in the public school were "more" developed--it was that the ones who were, were often wearing properly fit bras and not being stuffed into ugly, baggy clothing. And I see even more of that nowadays. The girl across the street who is in 6th grade and almost as developed as her mom wears properly fit bras and normal clothing. Because her mom suffered through her own mother's refusal in 6th grade to get her any bras and her efforts to stuff her into oversized shirts.

LW1: Cut the women of your generation some slack ... it’s kind of hard to look attractive with a half bottle of Aqua-net sprayed into your hair so as to form some rat nest looking poof ball out of your bangs … like girls used to do when you were in your 20s.

LW2: Holy f’ing psycho nut job! I’d be very reluctant to continue in a relationship with him unless he brings out the beyatch stick and gives his creepy sister a few whacks with it. Like there needs to be some major repercussions … this isn’t something that you are like, oh, that’s just my silly sister, tee, hee, and it’s swept under the rug.

LW3: Whatever it’s called, you think it means more than she does, which as far as you are concerned means she’s right. So, just enjoy and don’t expect or pressure her to define it as something more than she wants it to be.

LW4: If you are planning on getting laid afterwards, wait up to 4 hours, but if not don't wait longer than 2 minutes, 35 seconds, lol.

LW5: Even if you clogged it, c’mon out and announce to the host:“Whoever used the toilet before me … I think it was Jason (pick whoever’s name you want)… clogged the toilet,” lol.

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